Discussion Point 2

Select two innovative typographic designers - one pre-digital (1984), the other contemporary. Provide a brief comparative analysis of their contributions to typographic practice supported by relevant examples of their work.

Jamie Reid and Sasha Prood are two typographic designers who seem to have one thing in common: they both think outside the box. 

Jamie Reid, a pre digital legend is infamous for his works for the Sex Pistols as well as defining ‘punk’ in Britain with the Queen and pinned lips. He is most famous for creating the ‘ransom’ style design, with cut and paste letters and words used to complete the image/statement. This is what gives Reid the edge; he manages to make it work through his creative use of visual heirarchy and selecting the right images with that seem to have the right connotations to it. He works on the idea that there are no boundaries; often using popular icons and defacing them to enhance meaning. These cut-ups then became a part of the punk culture, thriving on radical movement and arrogant statements.

Sasha Prood on the other hand is a contemporary underground typographic designer who, like Reid use images to create their statement. Prood however, focuses on the creation of the type: she plays with paper as she draws images to mirror letters, or uses watercolour to create depth in such simple shapes. With Reid who often used different letters from different newspapers who had various fonts, Prood uses different images for different letters which is what makes her so fascinating when scrolling through her work. Most of her type is hand drawn with pencil or pen, so you can really pick up the careful detail placed upon her work; in comparison to Reid, who really held onto the rushed, spontaneous design of type.